Lol @ people saying that blizzard will not try to make a similar cash cow to wow again.\

Your 300 mounts and 19k achievements mean nothing, you will be jumping ship like the rest of us in several years, or you will just quit altogether and have nothing to show for it.

Its pathetic to see such an unhealthy attachment to game points. Its better not to get attached to a virtual game in the first place, and that starts with not using your achievement points as a valid reason to play the game over the actual gameplay.

If people cry too much, they could give them some mount or some gear set to alleviate their pain of leaving old WoW. Nothing will stop a company from replacing an almost obsolete product and try to regain market share.

There's no reason for a "WoW 2." They have expansions. World of Warcraft is a constantly evolving story and game. Graphically, WoW has been constantly updated and is designed to have a "cartoon-ish vibe." They will likely continue to optimize the graphics engine with the next expansion. Also, "Warcraft" has started production with a release date of Dec. 18, 2015. If marketed appropriately, "Warcraft" could cause a resurgence of interest with WoW -- bringing in old and new subs, etc. "Titan" is a standalone endeavor that has been, basically, taken back to the drawing board. Blizzard didn't like the direction. From the rumors, "Titan" was a casual oriented FPS/MMORPG.

I disagree it is exponential decay. It looks quite linear in graphs and I expect their %loss to increase in the future consistent with linearity. One reason they will not lose the same % subs/quarter is because when friends quit/guilds implode players will leave at a faster pace. Also, I do not expect Blizzard to upkeep servers for <1M subscribers or at least keep them paying $15/mo. Subs will reach 0 within 4-6 years. Blizzard has the opportunity to release a new MMO and bring in new subs and also bring back some old subs. I say subs but I mean players, they could switch to a different revenue model, microtransactions or pay per time or smt else.

Given the quarterly sub data from 2010 Q4 (the first data point before sub decline started), the numbers are:

Within 3-5 years WoW subs will decline to below 2M, hence WoW-related revenue will decline to a small fraction of overall revenue of ACTV, at which point releasing a new MMO, or even WoW2.0 at the expense of WoW1.N will make a lot of financial sense to bring in new subscribers and reboot the WoW revenue stream.

Yes, of course. Your model looks correct. The point I was trying to get across to the sworn defenders of the old ways was; Blizzard is a multi billion dollar company financed in large by WoW. They have shareholders that wants to see revenue increase, not decrease like now. Blizzard can't think like those who believe 7 million subs is fine since it's still the most successful MMO ever. They got to think about one thing, and one thing only: How do we increase our revenues? Can we use the biggest, most famous game IP in the world to do that? Yes, yes we can.

Believing anything else is wishful thinking. I repeat, WoW: MoP, while still great it's starting to lag behind the innovation of the combined forces of the competition and Blizzard needs to (and probably have been for a while, see "Titan reset") get their heads together and come up with a battleplan. If they don't we will have another Nokia on our hands and the worlds biggest IP will fall on it's face and be sold out to competing firms who will milk the shit out of it. You want to see "EA GAMES, challenge everything" before you log into WoW in the future? They don't either, thus they will act being market leader and the best in the business.

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Originally Posted by Dolus

There's no reason for a "WoW 2." They have expansions. World of Warcraft is a constantly evolving story and game. Graphically, WoW has been constantly updated and is designed to have a "cartoon-ish vibe." They will likely continue to optimize the graphics engine with the next expansion. Also, "Warcraft" has started production with a release date of Dec. 18, 2015. If marketed appropriately, "Warcraft" could cause a resurgence of interest with WoW -- bringing in old and new subs, etc. "Titan" is a standalone endeavor that has been, basically, taken back to the drawing board. Blizzard didn't like the direction. From the rumors, "Titan" was a casual oriented FPS/MMORPG.

Back to the drawing board probably means WoW is getting more attention. This is their main income source, how can you not see this? I might have a business and marketing degree, but this is just too basic to not understand.

WoW has a stigma attached to it. Blizzard knows that. People see WoW and they join the bandwagon on bashing without trying it. (not saying complaints aren't valid in some cases, but most of the people with negative views on it have never played). Blizzard decided to do something completely new (which this is, saying they are lying to us is just stupid). Titan will be their next big thing, it will not be their next WoW.

Back to the drawing board probably means WoW is getting more attention. This is their main income source, how can you not see this? I might have a business and marketing degree, but this is just too basic to not understand.

Where did I say WoW wasn't their main source of income? I do have a business degree. Of course, WoW will be getting more attention and it should. Why would you leave the same amount of coders, etc. on a project that's being completely re-designed? It would be a waste of resources. And, I predict the film, if marketed correctly, will breathe life into WoW.

I believe Blizzard wanted to prove that it can create a new IP and make it great instead of falling back on established brands. I would have loved to see WoW 2 based on allt he things they learned with WoW. But I will be also excited to see something new.

Yes, of course. Your model looks correct. The point I was trying to get across to the sworn defenders of the old ways was; Blizzard is a multi billion dollar company financed in large by WoW. They have shareholders that wants to see revenue increase, not decrease like now. Blizzard can't think like those who believe 7 million subs is fine since it's still the most successful MMO ever. They got to think about one thing, and one thing only: How do we increase our revenues? Can we use the biggest, most famous game IP in the world to do that? Yes, yes we can.

Believing anything else is wishful thinking. I repeat, WoW: MoP, while still great it's starting to lag behind the innovation of the combined forces of the competition and Blizzard needs to (and probably have been for a while, see "Titan reset") get their heads together and come up with a battleplan. If they don't we will have another Nokia on our hands and the worlds biggest IP will fall on it's face and be sold out to competing firms who will milk the shit out of it. You want to see "EA GAMES, challenge everything" before you log into WoW in the future? They don't either, thus they will act being market leader and the best in the business.

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Back to the drawing board probably means WoW is getting more attention. This is their main income source, how can you not see this? I might have a business and marketing degree, but this is just too basic to not understand.

Your business and marketing degree fails you in this case. You are assuming that by restarting the titan project means they want to keep putting a lot more focus on WoW. They were not happy with the way Titan was going, they scrapped it. WoW is still alive, yes, but the reasoning for Titan going back to starting position doesn't mean WoW is going to last longer than previously. Titan is extremely early in it's production phase. Literally nothing is known about it, so there are still several years before Titan gets released. WoW doesn't affect Titan's production currently.

I believe Blizzard wanted to prove that it can create a new IP and make it great instead of falling back on established brands. I would have loved to see WoW 2 based on allt he things they learned with WoW. But I will be also excited to see something new.

I think any MMO they make based on all they've learned from WoW would be great. I sincerely hope this is the case.

Titan was just the name given by Blizzard because they had no official title for it. Just like SE called FFXIV "Rapture" when they announced a new MMO was in production. A good chance it won't even be called that.

Where did I say WoW wasn't their main source of income? I do have a business degree. Of course WoW will be getting more attention and it should. Why would you leave the same amount of coders, etc. on a project that's being completely re-designed? And, I predict the film, if marketed correctly, will breathe life into WoW.

They left a small team to work on Titan. It's pretty much back to the drawing board. The rest of the team they shifted over to other projects, 40 people to WoW alone. They wouldn't shift 40 people over to WoW if their intent wasn't bigger than just a mere expansion considering WoW was already numbering over 100 people. Just thinking of this as an analytical assignment tells me things are brewing over at Blizzard HQ and I would not rule out WoW2 being announce within 3 years. This is my professional opinion.

As a gamer, I too hope that they stay loyal to the people who have supported them through the years and lets us keep mounts, titles and achievements. Just to show us we are special and appreciated. I also hope they stay as true to the WoW1 formula as possible and that they don't go and reset all the lore telling us we were playing an alternate timeline and now we're in the real one. Like many lore nerds speculate now a days.

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Originally Posted by Torgent

Your business and marketing degree fails you in this case. You are assuming that by restarting the titan project means they want to keep putting a lot more focus on WoW. They were not happy with the way Titan was going, they scrapped it. WoW is still alive, yes, but the reasoning for Titan going back to starting position doesn't mean WoW is going to last longer than previously. Titan is extremely early in it's production phase. Literally nothing is known about it, so there are still several years before Titan gets released. WoW doesn't affect Titan's production currently.

My degree tells me you don't put x millions of dollars into R&D when cash flow and liquidity is showing red numbers and you just took back billions of dollars worth of stock. Guess how they did that? Loans. My degree tells me unproven = bankrupt if I analyze correctly and I think my fellow economists will confirm this for you. Titan is being "reset" as in put on hold until they know how to get the cash flowing again.

I think its very important that Titan was basically paused, and then reset, in the face of a huge blowback to D3's monetized AH... I know its conjecture, but I am really thinking they were going to go all-in with a P2W model...

That said, as fun as WoW is, I really do not want a WoW2 per se. I mean WoW is really the only blockbuster MMO that has stayed at its peak this long... In the face of all these titanic, well funded "WoW killers." And even now WoW is slowly tappering off.

I think its very important that Titan was basically paused, and then reset, in the face of a huge blowback to D3's monetized AH... I know its conjecture, but I am really thinking they were going to go all-in with a P2W model...

That said, as fun as WoW is, I really do not want a WoW2 per se. I mean WoW is really the only blockbuster MMO that has stayed at its peak this long... In the face of all these titanic, well funded "WoW killers." And even now WoW is slowly tappering off.

No, Titan should be something different.

What would be the point? Why not make incremental improvements with new expansions? I just don't believe Blizzard will seek making a new game branded as "World of Warcraft 2.0." Especially, after Origin's debacle back in the day with Ultima Online 2.

They left a small team to work on Titan. It's pretty much back to the drawing board. The rest of the team they shifted over to other projects, 40 people to WoW alone. They wouldn't shift 40 people over to WoW if their intent wasn't bigger than just a mere expansion considering WoW was already numbering over 100 people. Just thinking of this as an analytical assignment tells me things are brewing over at Blizzard HQ and I would not rule out WoW2 being announce within 3 years. This is my professional opinion.

As a gamer, I too hope that they stay loyal to the people who have supported them through the years and lets us keep mounts, titles and achievements. Just to show us we are special and appreciated. I also hope they stay as true to the WoW1 formula as possible and that they don't go and reset all the lore telling us we were playing an alternate timeline and now we're in the real one. Like many lore nerds speculate now a days.

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My degree tells me you don't put x millions of dollars into R&D when cash flow and liquidity is showing red numbers and you just took back billions of dollars worth of stock. Guess how they did that? Loans. My degree tells me unproven = bankrupt if I analyze correctly and I think my fellow economists will confirm this for you. Titan is being "reset" as in put on hold until they know how to get the cash flowing again.

A good business person would know that when a project is causing your profits to drop continuously and it's old, you don't keep feeding it. You work on the replacement. Blizzard has the money to fund Titan. They brought it back to make sure that it's a success. Not to make sure WoW keeps being a success.